1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a broadcasting receiver having a freeze function and a method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a broadcasting receiver having a freeze function, capable of displaying updated additional information offered by a broadcasting station on a screen by updating an on-screen-display (OSD) menu by a user even in a frozen state of an image, and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a broadcasting receiver, such as a television, processes a broadcasting signal transmitted from a broadcasting station and thereby enables a user to receive various information transmitted by the broadcasting station regardless of the user's age and position. Such a broadcasting receiver is equipped with a freeze function that converts a moving picture to a still image.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional broadcasting receiver.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional broadcasting receiver comprises a broadcasting signal reception unit 10, an image signal process unit 20, an operation reception unit 30, an on-screen-display (OSD) generation unit 40, a scaler unit 50, a control unit 60 and a display unit 70.
Among broadcasting signals transmitted from a predetermined broadcasting station, the broadcasting signal reception unit 10 receives a broadcasting signal corresponding to a channel selected by control of the control unit 60 which will be descried hereinafter. The image signal process unit 20 processes an image signal included in the broadcasting signals. An audio signal process unit (not shown) processes an audio signal included in the broadcasting signal. The processed audio signal is output through an audio output unit (not shown) such as a speaker.
The operation reception unit 30 is input with external operation for controlling the operation of the broadcasting receiver by a user and transmits the input operation to the control unit 60. The OSD generation unit 40 produces OSD data corresponding to an external operation signal input through the operation reception unit 30. The scaler unit 50 scales the processed image signal and the OSD data. The display unit 70 displays the scaled image signal and the OSD data as an image and an OSD menu on a screen.
The control unit 60 controls the broadcasting signal reception unit 10 to select a broadcasting signal corresponding to the selected channel, and also, controls the image signal process unit 20 to process the image signal included in the broadcasting signal. Furthermore, the control unit 60 controls the scaler unit 50 to scale the OSD data produced by the OSD generation unit 40 and the processed image signal.
When a freezing command is received through the operation reception unit 30, the image and the OSD menu being currently displayed on the screen do not change, and this state is called a frozen state. In other words, the control unit 60 controls the scaler unit 50 to display the image signal and the OSD data corresponding to time of receiving the freezing command. The frozen state is maintained until another predetermined external operation signal is received through the operation reception unit 30. When the user inputs a predetermined external operation signal using a remote controller (not shown) and a key pad (not shown), the frozen state is released and therefore, the broadcasting receiver processes and keeps displaying on the screen the image signal included in the received broadcasting signal and the OSD data produced by the OSD generation unit 40.
Upon receiving the freezing command, the OSD menu as well as the image is displayed in the frozen state. In this state, the user is not able to update contents being displayed by changing the OSD menu through the remote controller (not shown) and the key pad (not shown). Moreover, if a broadcasting receiver for digital broadcasting, which is common nowadays, gets into the frozen state, the image, the additional information, and the OSD menu cannot be separately controlled so that the user may not be able to use the various additional information offered by the broadcasting station.